A Flower in the Window
by Twylyte
Summary: Naruto talks to Ino about why she likes Sasuke. One-shot. Naru/Ino.


A Flower in the Window

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

**A/N: This just popped into my head while on holidays, and so I wrote it. Mostly pointless with a little bit of fluff. Enjoy!**

"Hey, what's wrong?" A twelve year old boy asked.

"I just had a fight with someone who used to be my friend…" The girl replied, her face buried in her hands.

"Why isn't she your friend anymore?" The blond asked.

"Because we… we both like the same boy!" She broke out in tears. "It's stupid, why cant we still be friends?"

"Your name's Ino right?" Ino nodded. "Is it alright if I sit here Ino?"

She nodded and looked up to see who she was talking to. "You're Naruto aren't you? Don't you like Sakura? Why are you talking to me?"

Naruto sighed. "So it's about Sakura and Sasuke isn't it?" When Ino turned away he continued. "Why do you like Sasuke anyway?"

"What, are you jealous? You just want to be better than him don't you!?" She yelled, but then whispered the next bit. "You're not here to comfort me… no-one is…"

"No, I meant _why_ do _you_ like Sasuke? What makes you want to be with him? Is it because he's cool; because he's an Uchiha? If that's why you like him then you should give it up. That's not a good reason to love someone." Ino looked up. "You should love him because of who he is, not what he is."

"What do _you_ care?" Ino barked.

"It's not what I care… It's what _you_ care. Do you really want to live your life with someone like him? Someone who's always moody, and always out for a fight."

"You're just trying to make Sasuke-kun look bad aren't you!" Ino screeched.

Naruto sighed. "No, I just want you to think about it." He got up and started to walk away. "Think about it Ino, do you like him because he has traits you admire, or do you like him to fit in?"

Before he turned the corner Ino shouted out to him. "But he's strong! He's the top of the class, and if we're going to be ninja that's gotta mean something right?"

Naruto scoffed. "He's not strong. He's got skill I'll give him that, but by the time he was our age, Sasuke's brother was already a fully fledged Jounin."

"Oh yeah, if he's not strong, then how is he so much better than you?" Ino smirked.

Naruto frowned. "He's not."

Ino blinked. "Wha-"

"Tell you what. I'll fight Sasuke tomorrow before school, if I beat him will you think about what I said?"

Ino nodded. There was no way _her_ Sasuke-kun could loose. But something bugged her. Why was Naruto acting so smart? Wasn't he the dead-last?

The Next Day.

Ino arrived at school just in time to see Sasuke arrive and be mobbed by fangirls. He started bobbing and weaving towards the door, dodging boxes of chocolates and flowers. "Sasuke!"

Everybodies attention was drawn away from the last Uchiha, but were surprised by what they saw. It was Naruto, high up in a tree branch, but this was no Naruto they'd ever seen before.

His bright orange clothes were replaced with dark brown slacks with a dark purple top, and he wasn't wearing his goggles. His hair was spiking all over like usual, but now his fringe was drooping down over his forehead, almost reaching his eyes.

"What is it looser!?" One of the fangirls screeched. Ino cringed inwardly. She knew what was coming, and even though she didn't even normaly talk to Naruto she knew he didn't deserve the beatdown he was about to get.

"Uchiha Sasuke, I challenge you to a fight. First one to either be incapacitated or forced to surrender looses." Naruto's voice was calm and quiet, unlike his normal boisterous tones.

"What's in it for me? We all know you're going to loose." The Uchiha prodigy smirked.

"You win you prove your skill once more, but if you loose or don't even try to beat me everyone here will see how weak you are."

Sasuke grunted, this was the dead last; there was no way he'd loose, but if he didn't fight everyone would think he's weak and Sasuke Uchiha was anything but weak! "Fine; this wont take long." The Uchiha smirked. "Bring it on dobe."

Naruto jumped out of the tree. "Go!" He yelled and Sasuke charged before Naruto even hit the ground. Sasuke swung at Naruto who grabbed the teens fist. As he landed the blond crouched and rolled, still holding Sasuke's hand.

The Uchiha was thrown to the ground but he rolled to his feet only to find Naruto's fist hurtling towards his face.

_CRA-CK!!!_

The Uchiha was sent spinning. He crashed up against a tree and was knocked unconscious. Everyone was silent.

The teachers (who had just showed up) were shocked. Naruto had the lowest scores in the year and almost no taijutsu skills to speak of.

"He must have cheated!" Yelled Sakura, who was quickly backed up by the rest of the fangirls.

"He did not cheat!" Once again silence reigned, but now everyone's attention was on Ino. "He didn't need to. Sasuke thought Naruto was weak, like everyone else here, but Naruto's a lot stronger than we thought. And Sasuke isn't the strongest ninja alive. I asked my dad about it, and at our age Sasuke's brother was already doing high rank missions for the Hokage himself. Sasuke isn't even a genin yet." Ino's voice had started off strong but the more she talked the quieter she got. When she was finished she dropped her head blushing at all the attention.

"So I take it you thought about it huh?" Her head snapped up to see Naruto looking at her, a smile on his face. For some reason the fact he smiled at hee made her blush even more.

"Yeah I thought about it." She mumbled.

"Did you come up with anything?" She shook her head and frowned. "So you'll give up on it?" She nodded. "That's good. I hope you find someone better." With that he was gone.

_You hope I'll find someone better huh? I think I already have._

"Hey Ino-pig, what did that idiot mean by that?" The pinkette asked.

"_Naruto_" Ino said, emphasising the fact that the 'idiot' who beat Sasuke has a name. "Was asking about what we talked about yesterday. He asked why I liked Sasuke, what good things I could think of about him. The only thing I could think of was that he was strong, but he's not the only strong guy out there is he?" Ino smiled at Sakura. "Why do you like him Sakura?" She smiled and walked away, leaving Sakura and the fangirls thinking, why did they like Sasuke? Unfortunately unlike Ino they decided they didn't need a reason.

Three and a half years later.

It was a beautiful summer day in the village hidden in the leaves. The pool was full of people and the nearby rivers and springs were all occupied. This didn't matter to one teen though. Her parents were both out on missions and so she had been left to look after the shop.

_Who'd want to buy flowers on a day like this anyway? They'd wilt before the days done._

No sooner had the girl thought this than a bell rang, signalling someone was entering the shop.

The man that entered was easily a head taller than her, with bright blond hair and three lines on either cheek. He wore black cargo pants but no top, just a dark purple trench coat. _Woah he's HOT!_ She shook her head. _No! I'm waiting for Naruto to get back, then I can tell him how I feel… how I felt three years ago before he left with that stupid old man._

"Hello, welcome to Yamanaka flowers, how can I help you?"

"I'm looking for a flower for a girl… I want to tell her how I feel and I hear flowers can help…" He seemed a bit shy, oh well, most males are shy when asking for help.

"Well, what kind of message do you want to send?" Ino asked.

"Message?" The man blinked. "Like a letter?"

"No, each flower means a different thing; some mean that you think she's pretty, some mean that you like her personality." Ino explained.

"Well, I guess I just want to say that I love her." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "What flowers say that?"

"Well, roses are good to say you love her, but you cant give roses all the time, the girl will think that you're boring."

"Well, I guess a rose will do for this time." The man said, following Ino over to a bench covered in flower pots.

"Well, what colour are here eyes?" Ino asked, flicking a strand of her platinum blond hair away.

"Hmm, actually they're the same colour as your eyes, a light greeny-blue that seems to contain endless love and affection…" The man trailed of blushing.

"Wow, she must be some girl huh?" Ino teased.

"Oh she is, she's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, and I've been travelling for the past few years so I've seen a lot of women." He said with a vacant look on her face. "So have you got anyone special miss Yamanaka?"

"Yeah, but they left a few years ago…" The man frowned. "But he'll be back, he's supposed to come back soon actually." Ino smiled as she picked up a beautiful sapphire blue rose. "These are my favourites, they should work fine." She handed the man the rose and headed over to the counter.

The man payed and Ino returned to her bored waiting. It only took a minute for her to realise the man hadn't left. "Huh? What do you want?"

"I wanted to tell you I'm back Ino." She blinked. "And that I love you." He handed her the rose, and a thousand memories flooded her mind, all of them of a certain blond, and all of them happy.

"NARUTO!" She screamed.

He nodded and Ino vaulted the counter and wrapped her arms around him. Suddenly what he had said earlier hit her. "You really meant it, what you said before?"

"Of course I did," Naruto returned the hug, placing one arm on her head and running his hand through her hair. "I love you."

The two stared into each others eyes as they leaned in, their lips meeting in a deep passionate kiss.

Suddenly the door to the shop burst open and Sakura burst in. "Hey Ino, guess what! Naruto's - woah!" The two broke apart blushing and looking at the ground. "Well I guess you found out already huh?"

Ino blushed even deeper. "Well, nice seeing you Naruto, Sakura, I'm going to close the shop up now so would you both mind leaving?"

Naruto nodded, huridly. "So I'll uh, see you later Ino!"

"Sure!" Blonds glanced at each other and blushed again.

Naruto sped for the door and shot off. "Sooo…" Sakura said slyly. "Naruto huh?"

"Shut up Pinky!" Ino pushed her out and slammed the door.

Sakura couldn't help it and burst out laughing. _Oh I have GOT to go find the others, they'll love this! AHA!!_

**A/N: I know, short and pointless. Heh, oh well. Review if you like it! If I get enough reviews or just a really nice one ore two I might do another Naru/Ino, maybe longer (ie a story instead of just a oneshot.) **

**I hope you enjoyed it!**


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